This book provides a comprehensive overview of the latest theory and practice on Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in research. Its seven chapters cover the historical and conceptual background; the various ways implementation can be approached and how they are put into practice; ethical considerations and critical perspectives, including on the potentially negative impacts of PPI; approaches to meaningful evaluation; a step by-step guide to planning PPI and conclusions with considerations for future research. Drawing on current literature, this book provides an essential reference work for research students and all who want to better understand PPI in practice. It offers exercises to address key questions, case examples and a checklist for planning PPI and includes a valuable glossary of terms.

The Economics of Sin examines the definition and evolution of sin from the perspective of rational choice economics, yet is conscious of the limitations of such an approach. The author argues that because engaging in activities deemed to be sinful is an act of choice, it can therefore be subject to the logic of choice in the economic model. The book considers the formation of religions, including the new age revival of 'wicca', as regulators of the quasi-market in sins, and goes on to appraise the role of specific sins such as lying, envy, jealousy, greed, lust, sloth, and waste in individual markets and in macroeconomic activity. Empirical evidence on issues such as cannibalism, capital punishment, addiction, adultery and prostitution is also explored. Samuel Cameron concludes that a large percentage of economic activity is intimately connected with forms of sin which are in some circumstances highly beneficial to the functioning of markets, particularly in the presence of market failure. This innovative, interdisciplinary study of the institution of sin will be of enormous interest to a wide-ranging readership, including researchers and teachers of economics, sociology and theology. It will also be of importance for anthropologists and philosophers.

This textbook provides a short introduction to auction theory through exercises with detailed answer keys. Focusing on practical examples, this textbook offers over 80 exercises that predict bidders' equilibrium behaviour in different auction formats, along with the seller's strategic incentives to organize one auction format over the other. The book emphasizes game-theoretic tools, so students can apply similar tools to other auction formats. Also included are several exercises based on published articles, with the model reduced to its main elements and the question divided into several easy-to-answer parts. Little mathematical background in algebra and calculus is assumed, and most algebraic steps and simplifications are provided, making the text ideal for upper undergraduate and graduate students. The book begins with a discussion of second-price auctions, which can be studied without using calculus, and works through progressively more complicated auction scenarios: first-price auctions, all-pay auctions, third-price auctions, the Revenue Equivalence principle, common-value auctions, multi-unit auctions, and procurement auctions. Exercises in each chapter are ranked according to their difficulty, with a letter (A-C) next to the exercise title, which allows students to pace their studies accordingly. The authors also offer a list of suggested exercises for each chapter, for instructors teaching at varying levels: undergraduate, Masters, Ph.D. Providing a practical, customizable approach to auction theory, this textbook is appropriate for students of economics, finance, and business administration. This book may also be used for related classes such as game theory, market design, economics of information, contract theory, or topics in microeconomics.

In this book, leading experts in the field examine the effects of the recent growth in concentration in the European food retailing sector. In particular, the book develops a number of buyer power propositions and builds on the previous work of several of the authors, to consider how the growth of large supermarket chains affects competition in food retailing. The authors outline the theoretical and policy analysis underpinning the work and assess evidence on the size and growth of supermarket chains across the EU. Whilst not entirely critical, they suggest that there is strong evidence in some countries that supermarkets use their buying power to impose unfair terms and conditions on suppliers, particularly affecting small suppliers. The authors use case studies, to provide an in-depth analysis of four European countries, namely France, Germany, Spain and the UK. The book ends with a discussion of policy issues against a backdrop of likely future trends in concentration in this area. Academics working in the areas of microeconomics and industrial economics as well as those involved in European competition policy more generally, such as lawyers, civil servants and consultancy groups, will find this volume enlightening.

This outstanding collection charts the work of Jan Fagerberg on the relationship between technology, growth and international competitiveness. With an original introduction and a mix of previously published and unpublished material, the book covers all the main issues including: the technology gap and differences of growth and welfare; structural factors in the growth of exports and production, and the relationship between growth of GDP and trade performance. The final chapter presents a comprehensive overview of the theoretical and applied work on technology and competitiveness.

This book is an important addition to the emerging body of new work on capital. Its primary contribution is in analysing capital investment choice as a process. The understanding of this process requires some modification and significant extension to the standard neo-classical economic tools.Capital and Uncertainty is a non-mathematical text, modernizing and adding to the existing thought in this area, with insights from game theory, rational choice under uncertainty and new institutional economics. Dr Runge also draws upon 25 years of business experience in setting out a thorough and immensely practical exposition of the risk/return trade-off and how major capital investment decisions are made within firms. Topics studied include: the nature of capital investment decisions entrepreneurship and the market order capital investment choice processes capital investment models capital decisions: choices between strategies Economists, industrial organisation specialists, business academics and practitioners alike will all find this book of immense interest and use.

This volume presents a scholarly insider's perspective on the Asian economic crisis, examining the social, economic and political consequences of the crisis in six influential Asian economies: Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand. Each chapter contains an analysis of the events leading up to and during the crisis, the social impacts and an assessment of possible futures for these countries. The contributors expertise and use of up-to-date data ensures an integrated approach by which the process of economic change can be understood.The book reveals that professional workers in the urban financial sector, as well as manual labourers in the export sector, felt the most dramatic effects. Impacts on the latter group resulted in a significant rise in the population living below the poverty line. The book emphasises the previous absence of strong social security 'nets' and the need to strengthen macroeconomic policies and institutional, legal, regulatory and supervisory structures. Other topics covered include intractable government corruption and fiscal management. The Social Impact of the Asian Financial Crisis has a unique perspective that will ensure greater understanding of the causes and consequences of the crisis in six major economies and as such will appeal to academics, researchers and policymakers involved in Asian politics and development economics.

This topical book interprets firms, governments and economic change from an entrepreneurial perspective. Essentially, it applies the Austrian theory of human agency and evolutionary theories of the firm to explain economic organisation, the state and institutional change. Tony Yu begins by discussing the nature of entrepreneurship and the firm followed by an analysis of the role of entrepreneurship in economic change. He thoroughly analyses the process of economic development in late industrialisers, within an entrepreneurial framework outlined within the book. The author argues that ordinary and extraordinary discovery are associated with routine or imitative entrepreneurship and Schumpetarian entrepreneurship respectively. Using this classification, the author shows how it is the interaction of various types of entrepreneurial activities that transformed East Asian latecomers such as Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong from traditional agrarian and fishing economies into international centres of trading, service industries and finance. Firms, Governments and Economic Change will be of special interest to scholars of industrial economics, entrepreneurship and Asian studies. It will also be of use to governmental organisations responsible for economic development, as the analysis is thoroughly up to date easy to understand.

A cantankerously funny view of books and the people who love them. It does take all kinds and through the misanthropic eyes of a very grumpy bookseller, we see them all--from the "Person Who Doesn't Know What They Want (But Thinks It Might Have a Blue Cover)" to the "Parents Secretly After Free Childcare." From behind the counter, Shaun Bythell catalogs the customers who roam his shop in Wigtown, Scotland. There's the Expert (divided into subspecies from the Bore to the Helpful Person), the Young Family (ranging from the Exhausted to the Aspirational), Occultists (from Conspiracy Theorist to Craft Woman). Then there's the Loiterer (including the Erotica Browser and the Self-Published Author), the Bearded Pensioner (including the Lyrca Clad), and the The Not-So-Silent Traveller (the Whistler, Sniffer, Hummer, Farter, and Tutter). Two bonus sections include Staff and, finally, Perfect Customer--all add up to one of the funniest book about books you'll ever find. Shaun Bythell (author of Confessions of a Bookseller) and his mordantly unique observational eye make this perfect for anyone who loves books and bookshops. "Bythell is having fun and it's infectious."--Scotsman "Virtuosic venting ... misanthropy with bursts of sweetness." Guardian "All the ingredients for a gentle human comedy are here, as soothing as a bag of boiled sweets and just as tempting to dip into."--Literary Review "Any reader finding this book in their stocking on Christmas morning should feel lucky...contains plenty to amuse--an excellent diversion"--Bookmunch

This highly innovative and original book proposes evolutionary microeconomics as a synthesis of the collective schools of heterodox economic thought with complex systems theory and graph theory. The book charts a research programme for evolutionary economics that encompasses the theory of dynamic efficiency and emergence in markets, a computational model of the learning and interacting agent, a competence based theory of the firm and the household, and, via a theory of expectations and plans, an agent-based foundation to macroeconomics. Principally a work of meta-theory, The New Evolutionary Microeconomics argues for a radical refocus of microeconomic research toward the evolutionary nature of institutions, preferences, technology and knowledge. This challenging new book should prove timely and important for evolutionary and computational economists as well as those in the fields of managerial economics, business studies and marketing.

Country risk has been a key notion for economists, financiers, and investors. Norbert Gaillard defines this notion as "any macroeconomic, microeconomic, financial, social, political, institutional, judiciary, climatic, technological, or sanitary risk that affects (or could affect) an investor in a foreign country. Damages may materialize in several ways: financial losses; threat to the safety of the investing company's employees, clients, or consumers; reputational damage; or loss of a market or supply source." Chapter 1 introduces the key concepts. Chapter 2 investigates how country risk has evolved and manifested since the advent of the Pax Britannica in 1816. It describes the international political and economic environment and identifies the main obstacles to foreign investment. Chapter 3 documents the numerous forms that country risk may take and provides illustrations of them. Seven broad components of country risk are scrutinized in turn: international political risks; domestic political and institutional risks; jurisdiction risks; macroeconomic risks; microeconomic risks; sanitary, health, industrial, and environmental risks; and natural and climate risks. Chapter 4 focuses on sovereign risk. It presents the rating methodologies used by four raters; next, it measures and compares their performance (i.e., their ability to forecast sovereign defaults). Chapter 5 studies the risks likely to affect exporters, importers, foreign creditors of corporate entities, foreign shareholders, and foreign direct investors. It presents the rating methodologies used by seven raters and measures their track records in terms of anticipating eight types of shocks that reflect the main components of country risk analyzed in Chapter 3. This book will be most relevant to graduate students in economics as well as professional economists and international investors.

Manufacturing has played a key role in the economic fortunes of the East and South Asian regions. This timely book analyses patterns of rapid catch-up and relative stagnation in the manufacturing sector and links these to economic growth in the region. Dr Timmer describes the manufacturing performance of five Asian countries since the 1960s: China, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Taiwan. Over this period Asian industrial development is placed in an international perspective by comparison with the world productivity leader, the USA. The author uses new empirical data to assess the degree of structural change in the manufacturing sector and its importance for productivity growth. He then discusses conditions for economic growth and catch up, and reviews the role of industrial and technology policies in the promotion of industrial development in Asia.

This is the second book celebrating Brian Loasby's contribution to economics by an internationally renowned group of authors including Mark Casson, G.B. Richardson, Nicolai Foss, Keith Pavitt, Martin Fransman and Richard Day. It extends Brian Loasby's work in the area of the theory of the firm and related methodological issues. This book is mainly concerned with the theory of the firm, a subject central to much of Brian Loasby's work. The authors begin by considering the existence and nature of firms and their internal and external relations, paying special attention to the themes of coordination and communication costs in a world of surprise and change. The discussion then moves on to the way in which firms use and create knowledge and capabilities, referring to questions of organization, with some detailed empirical investigation of high technology industries. The final part focuses on methodological issues including rationality, knowledge, incommensurability and equilibrium, in the context of different traditions. This book will be welcomed by microeconomists especially those interested in the theory of the firm and methodology.

This volume presents interviews that have been conducted from the 1980s to the present with important scholars of social choice and welfare theory. Starting with a brief history of social choice and welfare theory written by the book editors, it features 15 conversations with four Nobel Laureates and other key scholars in the discipline. The volume is divided into two parts. The first part presents four conversations with the founding fathers of modern social choice and welfare theory: Kenneth Arrow, John Harsanyi, Paul Samuelson, and Amartya Sen. The second part includes conversations with scholars who made important contributions to the discipline from the early 1970s onwards. This book will appeal to anyone interested in the history of economics, and the history of social choice and welfare theory in particular.

This book presents the state of the art in the relatively new field of dynamic economic modelling with regime switches. The contributions, written by prominent scholars in the field, focus on dynamic decision problems with regime changes in underlying dynamics or objectives. Such changes can be externally driven or internally induced by decisions. Utilising the most advanced mathematical methods in optimal control and dynamic game theory, the authors address a broad range of topics, including capital accumulation, innovations, financial decisions, population economics, environmental and resource economics, institutional change and the dynamics of addiction. Given its scope, the book will appeal to all scholars interested in mathematical and quantitative economics.